San Tera Mairi : The three temples pilgrimage

For more than 200 years, around mid-january, the little streets of Hida-Furukawa covered with snow, honor the encounter between men and women in the village. Even if it keeps this romantic appearance, the traditional event of San Tera Mairi is nowadays a pilgrimage into the old streets of the town to three buddhist temples as : Enkoji, also named “The temple protected by a turtle” being the only building which resist to a fire in 1904; Shinshuji, and Honkoji.

This feast takes place in the evening when hundreds of handcrafts candles made in the town, illuminate the small cobblestones streets along the canal and some beautiful ice sculptures. Those white and red candles represent the fortune to encounter our soulmate or the gratitude if you have already found it.